


Breaking It Not-So-Gently

by madamebomb



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Zuki, some traces of Sukka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-07 18:12:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16858900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamebomb/pseuds/madamebomb
Summary: Suki and Zuko try to break the news of their relationship gently.





	Breaking It Not-So-Gently

“We have to break this gently,” Suki said, pacing back and forth. “We have to do it the right way.”

Zuko nodded, pressing his mouth to a thin line. “I know. He’s going to be angry though.”

“We can’t help that, but we can at least soften the blow somehow,” she said, fretting her hands together. Zuko leaned away from the table he’d been perched on, catching hold of her hands and stopping her pacing. He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed the backs of her fingers one by one. Though there was still worry in the line of her shoulders, she melted a little in his arms.

“I’m not sure there’s a way to soften this, Suki,” he said gently. “He’s a grown man. He’ll understand.”

“What if he doesn’t? He’s your friend, Zuko. And he may be my ex, but he’s still someone I care about. I don’t want to lose his friendship.”

“I don’t either…”

“I’m so worried, Zuko.”

“It’ll be fine, Suki…” Zuko said, and then pulled her closer, kissing the worry off of her lips. She kissed him back, weaving her arms around his neck as he held her to him. He was never going to get used to the feel of her in his arms, the rightness he felt at having her by his side. Love swelled in him, overcrowding the anxiety he felt over what they were about to do.

When he pulled back, he put his forehead against hers, breathing in her scent as Suki caressed the back of his neck in the way that he loved so much.

“So how do we do this? How do I tell Sokka that I’m deeply, passionately, painfully in love with you? How do I tell him that we’ve been sleeping together? How on earth do I tell one of my best friends that I’m going to marry his ex-girlfriend?”

“Yeah… That was a perfect example of how  _not_  to do things. I mean, walking in on the two of you making out tends to really drive the point home.”

Zuko and Suki flew apart, turning to face the door, where Sokka was framed, a blank expression on his face. “Sokka!”

He held up one hand, stopping Suki with a quelling gesture as he walked into the room. “How long?”

They glanced at one another, and he saw how large Suki’s eyes were, the worry there. “Awhile.”

“I mean, how long after we broke up?” Sokka asked, his voice like brittle eggshells. Suki drained paper white. Sokka looked her in the face and let out a little laugh, which didn’t sound at all amused. “That long, huh?”

“Sokka…”

“Is he the reason we broke up?”

“That’s not… It was complicated…”

Sokka held up a hand. “Hey, I get it. I do. Honestly.”

“You do?” Suki said, glancing at Zuko.

“Sure. Here I’ve been blaming myself for losing the woman I love, thinking I did something wrong, when really I didn’t lose you. You stole her from me,” Sokka said, turning to Zuko with murder in his eyes.

Zuko started, holding up his hands. “That’s not… I swear, that wasn’t how it went, Sokka! We fell in love! We didn’t meant to, it just happened!”

In the years to come, Zuko came to look back on that moment with the knowledge that perhaps he had the punch Sokka threw at him coming. At the time though, he wasn’t very happy to find himself on his back, his nose broken and gushing blood, with Suki pushing Sokka out of the room and Sokka bellowing curses at the both of them, vowing never to speak to them again.

Sokka never kept that vow, but it took far longer to bring him around than either Zuko or Suki liked. And Zuko was fairly sure, even after their friendship was mended, that Sokka got a perverse kick out of seeing the slightly crooked tilt of the Fire Lord’s nose.

The damned thing never did look right after that punch.


End file.
